Can IBM i and related Licensed Programs Products (LPPs) transfer from machine to machine within an enterprise? Can the programs transfer outside the enterprise?

These questions are typical of those I get asked when I have a business person in my IBM i audience. And while I know a few answers to a few relatively straightforward questions, I find that in most discussions related to licensing, there are not very many straightforward situations. Because Alison Butterill and I get these questions so frequently, we were happy when Linda Hirsch, the expert on licenses and Terms & Conditions for IBM i (and other Power System software) offered to write a guest blog on the topic.

So, without further delay, here is Linda to help answer questions, and to point you to information you will find helpful when you need to work out answers to your specific questions. Linda, take it away.

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IBM software for Power Systems is licensed under the International Program License Agreement (IPLA). One part of this agreement is the License Information (LI), a document, which provides specific terms for a program. While the IPLA base agreement allows transfer of software, in most cases for IBM Power Systems programs, the program’s LI has specific transfer terms that override the IPLA base transfer terms. For reference, the IPLA base agreement has the following Transfer terms:

"7. Program Transfer

Licensee may transfer the Program and all of Licensee’s license rights and obligations to another party only if that party agrees to the terms of this Agreement. ..."

In this section, “IBM i” refers to IBM i operating system processor, user, and application server entitlements. The LIs for IBM i and PowerVM VIOS state that those programs stay with the hardware. Therefore if the machine on which IBM i and/or PowerVM VIOS were originally licensed is sold or decommissioned, the default transfer term based on the LI is that IBM i and/or PowerVM stay on the machine serial number. There are exceptions for IBM i as noted below.

The terms of Part 1- General Terms; section 7. Program Transfer of this Agreement (meaning the IPLA) are modified to include: Licensee may not transfer the Programs to another party separate from the transfer of the machine on which Licensee is entitled to operate the Programs… "

Licensee may not transfer the Programs to another party separate from the transfer of the machine on which Licensee is entitled to operate the Programs... "

Note that for IBM i, there are several programs that are automatically delivered with the operating system at no additional charge. Examples are IBM HTTP Server for i, IBM Developer Kit for Java, IBM TCP/IP Connectivity Utilities, etc. These programs are subject to the same transfer terms as the IBM i processor, user, and application server entitlements.

For IBM i, there are exceptions where the operating system entitlements can be transferred from the hardware serial where IBM i is originally licensed:

For leased hardware with IBM i, depending on the agreement between the leasing company and the client, while the hardware is leased, IBM i and associated software is financed rather than leased. This is the most common leasing arrangement. In these cases, at the end of lease, the IBM i entitlements are in the end client’s customer number. For IBM i operating system processor and user entitlements, the end client can transfer those entitlements to another machine within their enterprise, subject to the eligibility and requirements of the IBM i Processor and User Entitlement Transfer offering mentioned above. The transfer must occur prior to the end of the lease. If the client does not transfer the IBM i to another machine prior to end of lease, the IBM i entitlements stay on the leased machine serial number.

There are other offerings which override the transfer terms of IBM i: e.g. the Capacity Backup (CBU) offering and IBM i Client Relocation to a Service Provider offering. Starting November 26, 2014, refer to the web page “IBM i License Topics” (http://ww.ibm.com/systems/support/planning/ibmi_license.html) where we will provide information and links on the various licensing and related offerings.

·IBM i LPPs which are separately ordered and IBM i separately charged features

Examples of IBM i LPPs that are separately ordered are IBM i Access Family (5770-XW1), PowerHA for i (5770-HAS), Backup, Recovery Media Services for i (5770-BR1), IBM DB2 Query Manager (5770-ST1). Example of IBM i separately charged features are Option 18, Media Storage Extensions, and Option 26, DB2 Symmetric Multiprocessing. In this section, the programs I’m referring to are the IBM programs that are ordered via e-config. I am not referring to programs available through Passport Advantage.

The transfer terms that apply to V5R3 and later of the LPPs and IBM i separately charted features in this section are that the program or feature can be transferred to another system within the client’s enterprise. In cases where the client is transferring software to a machine of different processor group size, or active number of processors, etc., the client may be required to pay an upgrade charge, depending on the charge metric associated with the program.

The terms of Part 1- General Terms; section 7. Program Transfer of this Agreement (meaning the IPLA) do not apply and are replaced with the following:

Licensee may not transfer the Program to another party. Licensee may move the Program, subject to Licensee's Entitlement, to another machine within Licensee's Enterprise. An Enterprise is any legal entity (including, without limitation, an individual, a partnership or a corporation) and its Subsidiaries. A Subsidiary is any legal entity, during the time that more than 50% of its voting stock, or if no voting stock, decision-making power, is owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by the Enterprise.

If the Programs are moved to another machine within Licensee's Enterprise use of the Programs shall remain governed by this Agreement. In the event Licensee wishes to use the Programs on a different machine within Licensee's Enterprise with either i) a greater number of processors or ii) any number of processors within a different processor group than the original machine, then Licensee must obtain proper entitlement from IBM or its authorized reseller and must update Licensee's entitlement to any software maintenance and support for such Programs. The transfer of the Programs to another machine within Licensee's enterprise terminates Licensee's authorization to use the Program on the machine from which the Programs have been transferred."

To learn the program transferability terms, refer to the software’s license agreement.

While I've generalized the transferability terms for IBM i, PowerVM VIOS, LPPs, and IBM i separately charged features, as I’ve mentioned, refer to the program license agreements on the IBM Software Agreement websiteto be certain of the transfer and other terms for a specific program and version/release level.

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Linda Hirsch works on the terms and conditions for Power Systems Software. Linda can be reached at LLHIRSCH@us.ibm.com.

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